Discovery Learning Essay

Direct instruction and discovery learning are two very different styles and their effectiveness has been argued extensively. This paper focuses mainly on elementary school students of science and math and the efficacy of each teaching method in those subjects. The paper investigates the effect each has on recall and retention paying attention to the cognitive load imposed upon the learner by each method when applying the concepts in later lessons (Kalyuga, 2011). The rote memorization of math facts like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division shows an edge in effectiveness and efficiency for our youngest learners over discovery learning which seeks to allow students to create their own knowledge. The author looks at testing data

Discovery Learning

Discovery learning is constructivist in nature, but the two are not synonymous; it is a kind of constructivism. Discovery learning is a method of teaching that relies on students’ natural curiosity and reasoning skills to discover information on their own with little to no input from a teacher. Students are presented with problems to solve and the materials necessary to come to the conclusion desired, but students must do so on their own. There may be more than one way to solve the problem presented. There may be more than one correct answer.

The teacher takes the role of a “guide on the side”, no explicit answers are given. In pure discovery learning, no input at all is given after the problem is presented. Students construct the solutions to the problems presented and discover the targeted concepts for themselves. This is thought to develop a much deeper understanding of the concepts taught this